


Out of Commission

by froppii



Category: Bleach
Genre: Bankai, Concussions, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Injury, Injury Recovery, Manga & Anime, Post-Canon, Post-Thousand Year Blood War Arc, You can pry this ship from my cold dead hands, holy shit this is longer than I thought it would be, i started this shit in APRIL, nobody asked for more bad renruki but heres some anyway fuck you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froppii/pseuds/froppii
Summary: Having to lay in bed all day was not boding well with Rukia in the slightest.Renji babysitting her 24/7 certainly wasn’t making it any easier to get away with doing something she wasn’t supposed to.~In which Rukia is in a ~state~, Renji is getting tired of this shit, and tall people oppress a shortyCW: Some crude language/Swearing
Relationships: Abarai Renji/Kuchiki Rukia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Out of Commission

**Author's Note:**

> i don't feel like editing so plz excuse how garbage this probably is

Kuchiki Rukia and two of her squad members stood in the air before a high level hollow in a small town in the Living World. Even after using Sode no Shirayuki’s first dance, she had only managed to crack its mask about halfway through. She knew her squad members could handle it, she just didn’t know for much longer. 

She felt the spiritual pressure of another in her squad wash over the area.

“Kuchiki-Fukutaichō!”

“Report,” she ordered, leaping to avoid an attack from the hollow.

“Almost all other squads in the Division have cleared their areas of threats and returned through the Senkaimon. Third Seat Kotetsu-san’s squad was completely wiped out by an Adjucha. Kotetsu-san was gravely injured and has been brought back to Soul Society for emergency treatment from Yamada-”

“What?”

Rukia whipped her head around to look at her scout, who didn’t appear nearly as concerned for Kiyone as she felt. She realized her mistake too late, when she heard her squad member call her name.

“Kuchiki-san, look out!”

She turned back to the hollow just in time to see its tail dart towards her. It swept her legs, and she felt the reishi under her feet dissipate.

She tried to cast  _ Sekisho  _ to catch herself as she fell several meters towards the roof of a building under her. She missed the barrier entirely, her hand grasping for the edge of it to no avail. She crashed into the rooftop and felt a wetness on the back of her head. She struggled and failed to get any reishi to solidify underneath herself as she slid down the tiles of the roof and fell off of the building to the ground. She felt the cold concrete underneath her as her vision flickered.

She heard a set of footsteps rushing towards her, and somewhere to the side, there was a bright flash of light as her squad members released their shikai. 

_ “Burn, Moeru Ōkami!” _

_ “Feast, Raion no Tsume!” _

She didn’t know how much time passed before she felt someone pick her up. She saw the glow of the Senkaimon through barely-open eyes, and her head nodded back. Suddenly, everything was black.

~

Rukia shot up in bed, then immediately regretted it, a sharp pain running through her whole head. She recognized the layout of the Ugendō Quarters of the Thirteenth Division’s barracks. Attempting to stand, she immediately felt dizzy and supported herself against the wall. 

“Musta been a hell of a fall,” she grunted, feeling the lump at the back of her head.

Just as she began to make her way to the door, it slid open to reveal Renji and Kotsubaki.

“Rukia!” Renji rushed over to support her. “You alright?”

“Yeah, she grimaced, letting her “friend” (as far as her brother was concerned) support her weight. “What about Kiyone-dono? How is she?”

“Oh, she’s fine,” Sentarō said, entering the room. “She’s even insisting on studying for her Lieutenant’s exam with Isane-san while she’s staying at the Fourth.”

Rukia gave a light chuckle. “Figures she would.”

Rukia let go of Renji and started for the door, only to stumble and be caught by him once again.

“You really should rest, Kuchiki-san,” Sentarō said, “you caught a pretty big hit to the head.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, “I’ll just rest for the day and I should be alright.”

Renji began leading her out the door, Sentarō following behind.

“Have you submitted the mission report yet?”

“Yes,” Kotsubaki answered, “I made sure not to mention your injury. I don’t think anyone told Isane-san either, I just used  _ Keikatsu.  _ Not sure how good it worked though.”

“Well, better you than Renji.”   
“ _ Hey.” _

~

Two days after Rukia’s mission, she and Renji were taking a walk through the courtyard behind the Thirteenth Division barracks. They had both taken the day off to get some rare time together, though they were continually interrupted by Rukia’s ill-timed dizzy spells.

A few minutes into their walk, Rukia suddenly felt nauseous, and her knees buckled. Renji caught her and let her lean her weight against him. 

“I really think you should go get checked out by Kotetsu-kun.”

“And  _ I  _ think I told you to stop worrying.”

“Rukia-”

“Come on, I probably just didn’t sleep enough again. We’ve got one day, I don’t wanna waste it.

“Whatever you say,” Renji replied, dubious.

He helped her regain her balance and they continued on their walk, Rukia clinging onto his arm a bit tighter than before. 

Throughout the course of the day, Rukia had several more dizzy spells and near-falls, until Renji had had enough of her stubbornness.

“Hey.”

Rukia turned to face him. Before she could process what was happening, he had grabbed her by the waist and laid her over his shoulder.

_ “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re-” _

Her tirade was cut off by Renji’s shunpo, and before she knew it, they were in front of the Fourth Division barracks.

Renji set her down and supported her in his arms.

“What the hell was that for?! You undignified little f-”

Rukia suddenly grimaced in pain, clutching her head in her hands. 

_ “Fuck.” _

“Uh-huh. Exactly. Come on.”   
He grabbed her by the arm and all but dragged her inside the Sōgō Kyūgo Tsumesho.

As they entered, Isane looked up and made her way over to them from the relief station. 

“Hey! What brings you two here?”

She looked at Renji, her eyes almost level with his, then down at Rukia, who was still clutching her head.

“Stubbornness finally getting to that brain of yours?”   
“What is it with tall people and bullying me?”

Isane chuckled. “Come on, I’ll get you situated.”

“Are you not busy?” Rukia asked.

“Not really, there haven’t been a ton of high-risk missions lately, so most people can just be treated by their divisional medics.”

She led them to a private room, Renji helping Rukia onto the cot, then sitting in a chair beside it.

He told Isane about the day’s events, as well as what had happened during Rukia’s mission.

“You know, Kuchiki-kun, If you’d just come to me in the first place, I could have treated you right away and we wouldn’t be here.”

“To be fair, I’m not the one who made that decision.”   
“Yeah, and you would’ve beaten me to a pulp if you’d found out I let it happen.”

She couldn’t deny that.

Isane shook her head at their antics. “Let me just run a quick reiatsu assessment to make sure I’m right about this.”

She had Rukia lay down and hovered her hands above Rukia’s head. There was a soft glow, and Isane told her she could sit up.

“I’ll be right back.”

She grabbed a clipboard from the counter in the room and exited in the direction of the analysis hall.

A few minutes later, Isane returned and informed them that Rukia was suffering from a severe concussion. She told them what activities Rukia should and shouldn’t do, and gave them an idea of what to expect each week of the recovery process. Essentially, Rukia’s take-away was that she could do absolutely nothing except sleep for the next two months.

Not that that would prevent her from doing anything she was told not to do.

~~~

Week One

Having to lay in bed all day was  _ not  _ boding well with Rukia in the slightest.

Renji babysitting her 24/7 certainly wasn’t making it any easier to get away with doing something she wasn’t supposed to. She’d started to become more concerned for him than she was for herself (not that that was anything new). He spent all day by her side, keeping her entertained, bringing her food, and taking all of her criticism and grumbling in stride. She had no idea how he could possibly be accomplishing any of his work. 

“How come you’re still here?” she asked as he finished folding an onsen.

“How come you’re not asleep?”

Rukia rolled her eyes.

“I’m  _ fine,  _ I just need to suck it up. I have so much work to do-”

“And Sentarō will take care of all of it.”

“ _ Hah,  _ you act like you’ve taken over my division,”

“You don’t know that I won’t someday.”

“Please, who’d make  _ you _ a captain? With your uselessly long legs and dumb eyebrows.”

Renji laughed, and Rukia clutched her head in pain.

“Quit being so loud! It won’t help anyone if all you do is-!”

She grimaced again, receiving another sharp pain. Renji tried his best to contain his laughter at her self-inflicted suffering. 

“Alright,  _ Kuchiki-taichō,”  _ he teased, gently guiding her downwards until her head hit her pillow. He tucked the edges of the blanket in and she turned to face him. “Get yourself to sleep. I’ll make sure all your precious paperwork gets finished.”

He patted her head, to which he was met with an indignant grumble. 

“You’re one to talk abou-”

He pressed a finger to her lips, giving her forehead a quick peck. “Sleeping now.”

She huffed at him, then reluctantly closed her eyes and allowed herself to be enveloped in the familiarity of his reiatsu. 

Once he was sure she was asleep, he moved the pile of folded kimonos from his lap to a nearby drawer, then gently slid her door closed and exited the Kuchiki manor.

_ Guess now it’s time to do all  _ my own  _ paperwork. _

_ ~~~ _

Week Two

Renji had just entered the Kuchiki’s property when he realized something was  _ definitely  _ not right. Rather, he noticed that  _ someone’s  _ reiatsu was not coming from where it should have been.

He sighed and turned around, flash-stepping towards the Thirteenth Division barracks. 

~

_ She’s lost her mind.  _

Rukia hadn’t even noticed Renji open the door to her office. She sat at her desk sifting through a stack of papers. To anyone else, she would’ve seemed to be doing efficient work, but Renji knew her better than that. Whenever someone entered her office, there was a sense of tidiness. Organization. Perfection. This, however...was very much  _ not.  _ She clumsily grasped at whatever paper was nearest to her, skimmed through it, scribbled her name, and plopped it down somewhere on the other side of the desk. Renji could see the pain written across her face as she struggled to work. 

“Rukia, what the hell are you doing?!” he shouted from the doorway. 

_ "Shit!" _

Rukia nearly jumped out of her seat, then held her head in her hands with a grimace.

"Sorry," he chuckled sheepishly. 

What was he going to do with this woman?

He marched over to her and reached out to grab her, but even in her current condition, she deftly dodged him and ducked under her desk. 

"Not gonna happen, Renji."

He sighed and scooted her chair away from her desk. Then, grabbing the sleeve of her shihakusho, he all but dragged her outside. 

Rukia's eyes flew shut and she held her head again. Seeing this, Renji placed a hand on the small of her back to guide her, and the other in front of her eyes so the sunlight couldn't reach them.

Guiding her the whole way, Renji led her to the Kuchiki manor and into bed. 

~~~

Week Three

Rukia lay on the futon in Renji’s office, wallowing in the fact that she could do absolutely  _ nothing  _ for at  _ least  _ another four weeks. 

“Rukia, you should go home,” Renji called from his desk for the umpteenth time. “If Kuchiki-taichō finds out you’re here, he’s gonna kick my ass.”

“My house is boring,” Rukia mumbled, rolling onto her side to face him. 

“Yeah, ‘cause my office is so much more interesting.”

Rukia sat up and grabbed her dish of takoyaki from the side table, taking a large bite. Chewing it felt uncomfortable. It was chewy and difficult for her to bite down on without pain shooting through her head. Looking up, Renji noticed this immediately and sighed.

“How many times have I told you-”

He was cut off by a loud groan. Rukia covered the dish and plopped it down on the table, flopping back on the couch.

“I’ll be right back.”

Renji set down his work, grabbed Rukia’s dish, and left.

A few minutes later he returned with a large bowl of rice and a plate of tofu shirataki.

“You’re kidding me right?”   
“At least I didn’t bring you plain tofu this time.”

Rukia rolled her eyes and took the dishes and set them on the table, placing a throw pillow from the futon on the floor and settling in.

Renji then went to his desk and covered up the champon he had been eating and grabbed a small rice bowl from placing it in front of Rukia. He sat across from her and dished himself some rice. 

“You can just go eat, Renji.”

“Nope,” he said, gathering rice between his chopsticks, “I can just save it for dinner. I have to make sure  _ you  _ actually eat your food though.”

Rukia rolled her eyes again and smiled. There was far too much stubbornness between the two of them. 

~~~

Week Four

Rukia had finally been given permission to start reading things, which, to her, was a significant improvement from before. She and Renji were sitting in her office, sharing her desk to do some paperwork. Every few minutes, Rukia would have to look away and shut her eyes. Renji had continually been telling her to take a break if she needed to, but she refused, saying she was fine to go on. After a while, Renji left to grab himself some food. 

A few minutes later, he returned with a snack. As he entered the office, though, he saw the last thing he expected to. Rukia’s head was laid on the desk, and she was emitting light snores. He shook his head. 

_ I told you not to overwork yourself, didn’t I? _

He crossed the room and took a blanket from a cabinet in the corner (small bodies like Rukia’s got cold quite easily, after all, and required there be emergency blankets on hand at all times). Renji draped it over her shoulders and placed a kiss on her cheek.

“You gotta start taking better care of yourself, y’know?” he whispered as he gathered her papers and stacked them neatly in the corner of her desk. He collected his own documents and spared one last look at her sleeping form before sliding the door to her office shut behind him.

~~~

Week Eight

“Rukia…”

“Shut  _ up,  _ Renji, I  _ swear-” _

“Are you  _ sure  _ you should be doing this? I know Kotetsu said eight weeks but-”

“It’s  _ fine.  _ I need to practice.”

Renji rolled his eyes, not sure why he even tries anymore.

Standing several meters away from him, in a grassy field just outside the reaches of Rukongai, Rukia took a deap breath, eyes shut tight in concentration. She extended her Zanpakutō, in its Shikai form, in front of her. 

_ “Bank-” _

She opened one eye, looking pointedly at Renji.

“Shouldn’t you be a lot further away?”   
Renji waved a hand dismissively. “If you’re actually able to control the perimeter of its effect, it won’t matter.”

“And if I don’t…”

“Eh, worst case scenario, I freeze and die.”

Rukia glowered at her idiot and closed her eyes again, inhaling sharply.

_ “Bankai,” _ she breathed,  _ “Hakka no Togame.” _

A cloud of mist erupted around her body, the ground beneath her freezing. The ice inched further and further, and the mist hung in a thick haze. Then… it all retracted. The ice seemed to suck itself back towards Rukia’s body and the mist dispelled. Rukia stood amidst a small circle of dead grass, frost gracing one shoulder of her still-black Shihakusho. A wisp of icy breath escaped her lips, but other than that and the mist still streaming from the tip of her blade, no trace of her Bankai remained. 

Rukia let out a loud groan and stabbed her sword into the ground. 

“I mean… it was a start?” Renji grimaced, knowing how unhappy Rukia would be with herself even after just the first try.

“No, just-  _ agh.”  _ She huffed. “Okay, I love you, but please get your ass out of the way. This is never gonna work if I’m more concerned with not killing you than I am with actually getting this right.”

“Fine, if it’ll help.” He approached Rukia and clasped a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t push yourself too hard, though, okay? You  _ just  _ got cleared to come back to active duty, but you still need to take it slow.”   
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She stood on her tip-toes and pecked his lips. “Though that’s kinda rich coming from you, of all people.”

Renji chuckled.  _ “Mhm.  _ Just be careful. See you later.” 

He leaned down and returned her chaste kiss. As he walked away, he heard her grumble something about how he was  _ “so embarrassing, stay away from her”.  _ Her flushed cheeks were practically audible.

~

Rukia’s practice was important, Renji acknowledged, plopping down on his futon after yet another afternoon of paperwork. Some day in the near future, Rukia would go through  _ taishu,  _ the Captain Proficiency Test. If she was going to perform Bankai, she’d need to control its range so that she didn’t accidentally kill the Captain-Commander and others witnessing the exam. Being able to control Hakka no Togame’s reach would not only help her in this endeavor, but also as a reaper and a soldier. Of  _ course  _ her training was important, but Renji still worried for her. Through the eight weeks for which she was out of commission, she had constantly gone against any set parameters she could, working around her limitations until she couldn’t get out of bed. Her rebellious actions of the past two months combined with how quickly she was trying to throw herself back into her usual rigorous routine could  _ not  _ be helpful towards her recovery. But what could Renji do to stop her? Rukia, beside her brother, was probably the most headstrong person in all of Seireitei. 

Just as the sky began to darken and Renji considered calling it a day, his office door slid open and Rukia stumbled inside, wincing and holding her head in her hands. Renji rushed over and guided her to his futon. 

“I thought I told you not to push it too far. Look at you,” he brushed frost off of her shoulder, “You prob’ly froze yourself half to death.”

“It’s not that,” Rukia grunted as Renji all but forced her to lay down, “It’s my damn head. I can hardly see straight.”   
“I mean, the literal brain-freeze isn’t helping you out much either.”

Renji grabbed a heavy blanket from his cabinet and laid it over his obstinate girlfriend. 

“Let me go check the med barracks for some medicine for your head, then-”

Renji felt Rukia’s spindly, icy fingers wrap around his wrist as he turned to walk away.

“Renji, wait-”

He turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

Rukia shook her head. “Just- I think I just need rest.”

Renji suppressed a smug grin. It seemed The Great Kuchiki Rukia was mortal (sort of) after all.

“Shut up,” she said before he could open his big mouth. “I just thought maybe…” her demeanor shifted back to the sheepish one she put on whenever she asked for something that was, in her stiff mind, embarrassing. “...Maybe you could just stay with me for a little while?”

Renji blinked.

“I mean, I  _ am  _ kinda cold, and…” She trailed off, and Renji smiled. 

He lifted the blanket and settled himself next to Rukia, sandwiching her between the back of the futon and his broad chest. He pushed a tired strand of hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

"You know these things aren't made for two," Rukia muttered against him, her voice already dripping with sleep.

Renji tucked her small head under his chin and pulled her closer against him. “You don’t exactly take up much space.”

“And what happened to all the concern that Nii-sama would find us?”

Renji shrugged. “Whatever. You really think he doesn’t know about us already?”

Rukia chuckled. “Fair enough.”

She nestled into him and let out a relaxed sigh. Moments later, Renji felt her chest rise and fall in soft, even breaths. He felt the warmth of her body pressed against his, and he knew he’d always be there to take care of her whenever she happened to be out of commission.

Especially if they wound up like  _ this.  _

**Author's Note:**

> prompt cred to irenicbangtan, but she hates bleach so no co-creator status for her >:( (she just doesn't want bleach on her dash hngfjhk)  
> this kinda sucks but who gives a single fuck


End file.
